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MAY 2005
Dear Parent,
A busy term lies ahead
for staff and pupils at Hillhead. This is always an exciting term with
something to appeal to everyone. A diary at the end of this newsletter
gives dates for some of the term�s main events.
NURSERY CHANGES
Mrs Harper the teacher in the nursery has taken up a post at Crossroads
Primary School. She startsher duties there on Monday 16th May. There is
currently a staffing shortage in Caithness and this has resulted in Mrs
Harper�s move. We are fortunate that Mrs Audrey Mackay, ably assisted by
Mrs Banks and Mrs Muffett remain to continue the good service provided by
the nursery. At the moment we are unsure if Mrs Harper will return but I
will keep you informed of any developments within the nursery through the
monthly newsletter. We thank Mrs Harper for her good service to the
nursery and wish her well in her future teaching career be it elsewhere or
at Hillhead.
PARENT
QUESTIONNAIRE
Parents will all have received a parent questionnaire which asks about a
variety of school related items. A good number of you have returned this
already. Many thanks to all those who did respond. It is important to get
as high a return rate as possible. If you have not yet responded then we
would be very grateful if you could find a few minutes to fill in and
return the questionnaire Parents will be notified of the results before
the end of term.
YORK TRIP
A group of 22 primary 7 Pupils leave for their week long visit to York on
Monday 9th May, returning on the following Friday evening. Mr Henderson,
Mrs Harper (from the nursery) and myself will all accompany the trip.
Visits will include the Jorvik museum in York, Yorkminster, The Deep
Aquarium in Hull and the Flamingoland theme park.
TRAFFIC LIGHTS
MONITORING
Pupils in the nursery, Primary 2 and Primary 5 have been trying to make
the traffic lights stay green. The school has purchased three sets of
special classroom traffic lights, which show the levels of noise in a
classroom. Green is good, amber is getting a bit noisy and red is too
noisy. We hope that they will be successful in controlling noise in the
classrooms in an unobtrusive way. If your child is in one of these classes
then do ask them about how the traffic lights are.
TRAVELLING GALLERY
Senior pupils have the opportunity to visit a gallery bus which the school
has booked for Tuesday 17th May. The pupils will visit this touring
gallery which contains work by a number of artists which all have a common
theme of �still life�.
�CORRIE� ACTOR
VISITS SCHOOL
Primary 6 and 7 pupils had a very enjoyable experience on Friday 29th
April. They worked with the Eden court drama worker Lorna Sutherland and
the actor Dominic Rickhards to each put on a performance of Macbeth. Mr
Rickhards had previously worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company as well
as a number of television roles including one in Coronation Street.
I am told by reliable
sources within the staff that when Jim McDonald was injured in a building
site accident, he had to be treated by a physiotherapist. This medical
worker subsequently eloped with his wife, Liz McDonald. Mr Rickhards was
that man. However almost by way of compensation for this despicable
unprofessional act, he is now doing fine community service by working with
groups of school children such as those at Hillhead last Friday. He was
excellent and the pupils really enjoyed the activity. Lorna Sutherland
will be running a drama class for Primary 6 and 7 pupils after school on
Mondays, commencing May 16th.
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APPEAL TO HELP
KENYA
Whilst attempting to contact schools across the world for our New year
card exchange, I made a number of links with schools abroad. One of these
is Kipturi School in Kenya. Kipturi school is a rural school in Nyanza
province just south of the Sahara desert. It is a very poor rural area.
The school is made from mud walls and has a tin roof. It caters for 135
pupils aged from nursery to Year 8. The teacher who replied to me was
Odiambo Ngesa � the teacher in the school responsible for computing. To
house a computer, the school hopes to be able to buy a metal container
which they will use for this and as a library for the pupils.
Firstly however Mr
Ngesa must undergo computer training and it appears that the individual
schools in Kenya are responsible for this funding. They have asked for any
assistance we can offer in respect for this. Each part of training costs
�300 and I suggested that Hillhead could perhaps raise �100 towards this.
Mr Ngesa suggested we could sell Kenyan stamps to assist with fundraising
and has sent me over 100 stamps for this purpose. We have made rather
attractive stamp badges and these will be on sale in the school from
Monday 9th May.
A small badge will be
priced at 30p and a large one at 50p. More can be donated if you wish.
Hopefully these badges will become as much of a fashion statement as
coloured wristbands currently are.
Primary 1 pupil Stephanie Leith models
some of the Kenyan stamps for us.
I think this will be a
useful link for Hillhead and the pupils of Kipturi. I hope in time to
initiate a number of exchanges with them based around a variety of items.
I think this is a link which our pupils could gain a great deal from in
the longer term.
PUPILS IN THE LOCAL
PRESS
We continue to try and show pictures of pupils in the local press on our
pupil Notice board. A number of cuttings have been spotted recently. Jamie
Howden and Robbie Davis had their photo taken at the Spring Fair. Primary
5 pupils Kimberly Lewis and Cassandra Henderson appeared in an article
about the shadow puppet theatre which visited the school two weeks ago.
Primary 6 pupil Ryan Sinclair appeared in an action shot from the
Caithness rugby sevens competition. Primary 5 pupil Ryan Aitken also
appeared in a rugby picture when he won the Primary 4/5 man of the match
award at the recent rugby tournament.
A number of Hillhead
pupils took part in the recent Golspie Swimfest. Primary 5 pupil Erin
Mackay won two golds and a fourth place. Robyn Hughes, Rona Plowman,
Rachel Munro and Alan McGee also won medals. Alan, Laura Hughes, Lauren
Sinclair and Rona Plowman were all part of winning relay teams.
Kyle Gunn appeared in
the press by having the honour of throwing the first jack of the season at
the Rosebank Bowling Club.
HILLHEAD BOOK BANKS
All children in Primaries 1 to 7 will now have received their Book Banks.
They are intended to encourage pupils to read for pleasure. Do encourage
your child to participate in this scheme which will be so beneficial to
them.
SCHOOL UNIFORM
ORDER form
An order form for school uniforms will accompany this letter as we often
get a large number of orders in the last few days of this term. If we get
some advance warning of your needs we will be better able to meet them.
BIRTHS BIRTHS
BIRTHS
Sisters Jasmin (Primary 4) and Oceanne Camus (Primary 6) are delighted at
the arrival of their new baby sister Nina. She arrived weighing 7lb 1oz
early on Friday 29th April. Big sister Jasmin says �She is a happy baby,
she hardly ever cries�
SOME DATES FOR YOUR
DIARY
May 13th 11.30am Nursery pupils and parents have a come and try session at
the school canteen.
May 26th, 27th and 28th Continental market visits Wick
Monday 6th June � Friday 10th June: � Music Festival Week
Monday 6th June Report cards will be given out
Saturday 11th June 2pm Hilllhead 5 a side football competition at school
involving Hillhead house teams and small country schools.
Tuesday 14th June 7.00pm Parent evening for new Primary 1 pupils in
session 2005-2006.
Parents Evenings Wednesday 15th June 6.00pm � 9.00pm
Thursday 16th June 3.30 �6.00pm (parents will be able to opt in to the
date which best suits them)
Friday 17th June Nursery pupils to Primary 1 for morning 10.00 � 12noon.
(Details will follow)
Monday 20th June 1.40pm Senior Sports (Primary 4 to 7) (in the event of
rain this event will take place the following day)
Wednesday 22nd June 1.40pm Infant Sports (Nursery to Primary 3)
Friday July 1st School closes at midday.
Yours faithfully
A Budge
Headteacher
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